Today, before I start the topic, I want you to guess a word. Let’s call the word ‘it’. It is a seven-letter word that sometimes might be ignored, but it has impacted our world for generations. It is a word that has changed friendships, businesses, and sometimes sports. It has helped the poor and made the rich less arrogant. It’s helped people in the toughest of times to come together and support each other. It is also a word that has turned people against each other. It’s made people sour, turned countries against them, or even ruined their lives. It has also made people ultra successful or penniless. So what is ‘it’ and how is it so powerful?
Believe it or not, ‘it’ is empathy.
And you may be thinking, ‘Wait there is no way empathy could do all those things!’ But just wait, as through this blog, I will be sharing with you what empathy is, how it affects you and other people, and three ways to have empathy for other people when they need it.
But first of all, what is empathy? Empathy is the act of helping someone when they are down, or are feeling hurt in any way. Helping someone is a very broad subject, but when helping someone by showing empathy you may; leave them alone for some time, ask them if everything is alright, tell a trusted one if you are worried about their situation, or do a favor for them. (These are only some examples of how you can show empathy). Another big way you can show empathy is by stepping in their shoes. By stepping in someone else’s shoes, you’re trying to understand how they fell, why they fell, and what you can do to mitigate that feeling. (I will explain more about it later when I talk about how to have empathy). So now we’ve explained what empathy is, and how can it affect your life and others positively.
First of all, let’s start with ways it can affect your life positively. Empathy can affect your life positively as it can make you a better open-minded thinker and communicator. Being open minded is one of the most important profiles to display. When you are open-minded you can think from different perspectives. This can be crucial not only when showing empathy, but also for various jobs, which require you to think outside the box. Being open minded also is a great skill to have as a person. Also, if you have empathy, you are a great communicator. This is because you can communicate with the person you are showing empathy with as you ask if they are okay, what they are feeling, and if they need help. This can be a great life skill and it can also help you when you are communicating with difficult people, which we all come across in our life. Empathy can also affect other people’s lives as they can feel respected. Let’s just say that there was a person considering ending their own life. (This is not out of the blue as many people are currently considering this). Let’s say that they are bullied in school, and are called rude names. Well, if you show empathy, the person who receives the empathy feels disrespected, and feels that someone knows what is happening. This could potentially change their decision to end their life. Now that we’ve gone over how empathy can change your life and others, let’s go over three tips to show empathy.
- Stepping into other people’s shoes.
The first tip that I will share with you is stepping into other people’s shoes. As I have explained before, stepping into other people’s shoes is trying to understand the situation from the person who needs empathy’s point of view. Some questions you could ask yourself when you are in the other person’s perspective is ‘How would you feel in this situation? What would you do in this situation? Do you want anyone to talk to you? Now, let me give you one example of stepping into someone’s shoes. Let’s say that your father is angry with one of his colleagues, and you don’t know what to do. You step in his shoes and pretend that you are angry with your friends. You would want to be left alone, right? Well then, you can show empathy and leave your father alone. This can let your father calm down, and you be proud that you successfully showed empathy.
- Know the impact it can have
Another tip to show empathy is knowing the impact it can have on people. Research clearly shows that when people know the impact their empathy can have on other people, they are much more likely to impact them, as they know how dramatically it could change someone. As I explained in the paragraph before, where I talked about the impact of empathy on people, I clearly said that empathy is as powerful as anything as it could change someone’s decision from suicide. So, always remember the impact empathy can have, because it is massive.
- Have the gut instinct? Then go
The last tip I will give you is about having the gut instinct. Lots of people have a gut instinct to go and ask somebody if they’re ok, effectively showing empathy, but they never do, because they always worry something will happen. But you always should always follow your gut instinct, as it is the best to catch up and show some empathy. If the person doesn’t want you to talk, you can go away but always remember to keep an eye on them
So, in conclusion, to recap this article, I explained what empathy is, how powerful it is, how big of an impact it can have on your communication skills, and helps you be open-minded, I explained how it could change another person’s life, and then I told you three tips to have empathy; stepping into other people’s shoes, know the impact it can have and have the gut instinct? Then go. Hope you find a way to show empathy today!